Cloud-based infrastructure on demand has transformed the way organizations can expand their services and products. What is this all about? There is no requirement to completely overhaul your infrastructure of apps, while introducing new features or expanding it as you would like it to be. It is well known that the proactive monitoring and management of your enterprise IT infrastructure is the necessity of the moment.
What if we tell you that there’s a possibility to install an emulating Operating System (OS) inside an existing system and mimic its functions as if it were a completely new system? Simply put, how would you run an OS within one of your existing OS? It could save lots of time in developing and money in addition to ensuring the uniformity of code across all the developer systems throughout your infrastructure for applications.
So, the answer to these questions is in fact containerization technology. Let’s first examine the definition of containers, their technology and then how you can cut development costs by effectively making use of containers.
Simform is a reputable Containerization and orchestration Consulting and implementation firm that assists companies to implement a container-based environment and enjoy platform independence, easy operations, high efficiency, and guaranteed security. Get in touch with us today to begin your journey!
What is Containerization Technology?
The technology of containerization, in default, is a result of the enhancements of virtualization. It is also referred to as an OS-level virtualization. It’s a bit confusing, isn’t it? Let’s look at it in detail.
Containerization is about packing the requirements of an application that is in development into an image base. The application can be run as it’s own space (containers) across different platforms. It is essential to note that the containers run on the same operating system. The majority of IT executives are fascinated by this technique because it is commonly utilized to deploy and run an app distributed without needing the use of the Virtual Machine (VM).
Virtual machines face the issue of code that is prone to errors while moving the application’s infrastructure from one environment to a different one. For instance, a majority of enterprises were unable to develop apps when a developer shared development files from Linux to Windows-based OS.
It was in 2013 that Docker became available, to solve the problem by disrupting the software development process. It enabled Linux-based software to effectively run on Windows-based platforms through Docker. While it was still a theoretical concept at the time, Microsoft was the first to implement this in the year 2016. Since then, a variety of websites and major tech giants like Shopify, Pinterest, Riot Games and many others have adopted containerization technology. It is widely used to benefit from the advantage of DevOps.
What are Containers used for in DevOps?
What impact do containers play? What impact do containers have with DevOps? Like we said, containers are an image base. The image could be shared across the organization by the operations team, developers and everyone else who is involved in the project.
The entire schema is an updated methodology of DevOps, where containers are used to connect different teams as well as the necessary operational and development files. The mythology of connecting and deploying new features in an app quicker, containers were born. They are Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD). The three primary factors that affect containers to be a part of DevOps include,
Dependency: Libraries, configurations, runtime engine, program tools, etc. of an application can be shared among many systems that run identical OS. Collaboration is improved!
Disposability It is easy to extract any app or data from a system and then remove the entire application from running in the event that the system doesn’t require any additional. It reduces expenditure!
Concurrency The use of CPU energy effectively, in contrast to virtual machines. This has been proven to develop auto-scale capabilities for any model of architecture, particularly when using cloud computing. Improves automated development!
Expert Analysis: For example, through the use of Docker to act as a container the code that is written in Linux could be transmitted to a Windows system. The Linux-based program doesn’t require any additional tools, libraries, system software and runtime native code or settings for running on Windows while developing. Sometimes, even without the infrastructure! What’s so convenient?
Containers are made of different types
There are currently many options that you can choose from in terms of container technology. Docker is among the containers that could ring a few bells. However, it’s disastrous when your app were to be misinformed about the various types of containers in use due to the rapid growth and expansion of containers recently.
In 2015, due to the increasing popularity of container technology, the Open Container Initiative (OCI) made the decision to keep the requirements and specifications for container technology to ensure that businesses have more options to select from the open-sourced and diverse selection of container engine options available in the present. Some of the most popular examples are listed below:
Docker
A containerized open-source platform that integrates the app’s source code along with the current OS and the associated dependencies and libraries. The code can run on any computer system.
LXC
A container that runs on OS, which allows the application to run on different Linux systems at an unintentional basis, provided it is running one Linux kernel which acts as host OS.
CRI-O
It’s a container Runtime Interface (CRI) for Kubernetes, the cloud-based container management system. It’s a CRI designed to ensure that it adheres to OCI runtimes compatible with the OCI. Therefore, this tool can be used as a replacement for Docker that is based on Kubernetes.
rkt
A container engine that is based on applications known as Rocket is utilized to build modern cloud-based applications. It utilizes CoreOS that operates by leveraging the security enhancements that previous version of Docker were reputed to have. It’s best to use it in conjunction with the necessary technology or as distinct components of the Docker-based system.
Benefits of using Containerization Technology
Containerization technology is spreading rapidly across various industries, with a particular focus on companies that depend on cloud-ready applications. Even if your app isn’t cloud-ready, or cloud-native, there are some advantages of containerization that you could reap.
- Reduced infrastructure costs because many containers can be run on a single computer and even on the Virtual Machine (VM).
- Applications that are monolithic or older could be encapsulated using microservice architecture, allowing for future expansion.
- Enhances security of applications as the app will be kept within separate container on multiple platforms and isolating the host.
- Containers do not require any specific OS and are able to be used on any OS as long as the container engine is running on an host OS.
- Containers are light and speedier since they’re prepared for processing in just a few seconds.
Where can you utilize technology for containerization?
It could be the implementation in DevOps and moving to the cloud and you might be thinking what are the potential uses of containers? Containerization technology is able to aid in developing any app that would have been difficult to develop on a native system. Some of the key containers used in applications are listed below.
- Refactoring Applications
Containerization technology plays an important contribution to helping the development and operations teams make use of techniques of lift-and-shift during the transfer of applications or architectures needs.
- Support for CI/CD
Containers allow you to make a simpler development process that allows for building tests, dispersing changes or new features often with ease. Furthermore, it minimizes the number of tests and stops the formation of a continuous clustering of file transfer across different systems.
- Compliment Microservices
Make it easier to develop and deliver the process of Microservice applications using containers since they are able to isolate the environments for work. Separating an architecture from its independent work environments is easily created.
- Web Server Dependence
Containers don’t need to be run in a direct manner in the host. It can instead be run on any device and the only requirement is to make sure that your host’s OS remains identical across all systems. Since it is only the space of a few commands, a web server could be created inside the container.
How Does Technology for Containerization Work?
Let’s look at how containers function without over complicating the process for you. Containers generate images of codes that are written on a particular system and the settings that it has libraries, dependencies and libraries. These images run as containers that can be run on any platform.
Containers aim to isolate the program from various computing environments. This allows you to run a program consistently or in a uniform manner across different platforms, regardless of the different staging environments and processes for development.
Containerization technology is also used as an OS host. However, they aren’t duplicates of a parent OS like we mentioned earlier. Take a look at the following image.
The Containerization myths that are commonly cited
It is important to weed out any misconceptions about containerization prior to attempting to figure out the details of what they are.
This section will discuss some of the most common misconceptions of containerization and containerization in DevOps.
How can companies cut costs through Containerization?
While both VMs and containers are focused on the same idea of virtualizing the same computing resource, the container is typically selected over VMs. Why is this? In simple terms, VMs consume more overhead in comparison to containers.
Virtual machines allow businesses to operate multiple servers from one system, or even more, regardless of the OS. Contrary to that, containers are light in weight and allow virtualization of applications with the capability to set up instances and shut them down in just a few minutes. Let’s take a look at the advantages of containers. we begin by discussing the issues that arise with virtual machines and the ways that containers can aid in reducing development costs.
Problems that have to be overcome prior to the introduction of containers
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Performance
In a VM the development-related resource is usually transferred from hardware to the virtual platform. However, this can result in resource depletion in a much faster pace, referred to as VM saturation. This ultimately causes the application to suffer slow performance.
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Awareness
Despite the fact that containers exist even today, VM is still widely thought of as a new concept by many IT firms. The majority of developers don’t understand VM to be a device used to virtualize apps. VM is a tool to virtualize an OS however that does not mean that it is able to create a virtual app within it. These fundamental confusions can lead to issues such as,
- Develop an unsuitable app infrastructure
- It is possible to lose IP addresses as you migrate the application between different systems
- Incorrect assignment of the bundle images to the incorrect VLAN
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Storage
The process of virtualizing the OS drive is a sign that an OS drive must be converted into the format of a flat file, i.e., Virtual Machine Disks (VMDKs), that can be more than 100GB in some situations. Furthermore, VMDKs may not be necessarily utilized by all development systems and inactive files are costly storage. And that’s not even counting the number of files that need to be kept.
How can Containerization Technology help Overcome Obstacles?
Although a VM and a container both permit organizations to adjust to rapidly changing environments Containers offer better ways to offer new services and create new products rapidly. Containers work better, and overcome the typical issues by VMs as mentioned earlier. One of the most important solutions that containers provide are
- Containers permit sharing of host OS which makes it lighter and less expensive in terms of use for the development phase and for deployment.
- The size of the container image is usually in megabytes, not gigabytes when compared to the image that is generated by the help of a VM. Reduces costs for storage.
- Making any function work with containers is possible in milliseconds. This can reduce the time to develop.
- In comparison to VM and VM, one system is able to host multiple containers that can be used to transfer development data to another container on a different system quicker. This means it will require less IT resources to manage, operate and deploy.
A few of the methods where containers are specifically designed to increase the value of your product include,
- Increase your market share by using faster advancements in techniques.
- Ability to conduct further research, test and create prototypes in a short time.
- App components can run in a variety of ways, whether on cloud storage as well as local storage or both.
This is only the beginning of the iceberg. everything above will ensure that the solutions mentioned above aid businesses in scaling effectively. As decision-makers, you’ll be able to test something completely new. If it is successful the idea can be incorporated into the production process.
Still not convinced? Some examples of companies who reduce costs by using containers
The use of containerization technology can be beneficial to a company in both financial and technical aspects. Additionally, it can reduce significant amounts of cost and risk. We’ll look at real-world examples of how different tech giants have benefited from containers to cut costs by utilizing multiple methods.
1) Spotify
The What
As the number of daily active customers, Spotify witnessed more than 200 million monthly users. The team embraced microservices and Docker to
- Containerize the microservices that were running on a number of VMs.
- Developed a container orchestration system and later renamed Helios.
This helped them reach the speed of development and cut costs regarding development practices and the resources they use.
The How
Spotify actively manages tasks, clusters and instances’ state as well as the state of instances, clusters, etc. By containerizing their infrastructure. The result was that they lowered their costs and aims,
- Develop a container-based orchestration system that manages all the containers utilized in Spotify and to manage all servers.
- Helios offered Helios with an HTTP API that communicated with the servers running containers that are used.
- Kubernetes was utilized to speed up the development and operations carried out by Docker.
2) Financial Times
The What
The giant newspaper needed to handle huge volumes of content available on their platform. They wanted to cut down the amount used for AWS Server operations. The team redesigned its technology infrastructure through the migration to containers, which cut the costs on cloud server management by 80 percent. Some of the strategies they adopted employing Docker to serve as containers include,
- Increased the number of updates to be released between 12 and 2,200.
- Stabilized the platform, regardless of the size and number of deployments.
The How
The team of developers considered the time invested in making sure the technology cluster was healthy and not affected when trying to reduce costs for servers. This is why the below is the result of what the team achieved,
- It has built its own platform for container orchestration based on Kubernetes.
- The tech stack was contained in containers that comprised 150 microservices.
3) Netflix
The What
Since 2008 Netflix made the decision to all-in and migrate to the cloud and hosted their majority of products on AWS. The company began operating on VMs hosted in AWS. However, while this allowed it to create and improve its architecture by incorporating various cloud-native patterns. But why did it not invest in containers?
Containers enable Netflix to follow the same pattern as by VMs easily and in a straightforward manner. In comparison to VMs This is the result that Netflix did through containers.
- Enhanced packaging for applications from end-to-end.
- Created an image that is application-specific for the things that are only needed.
- Reduced the time to produce by making sure that deployment is application-specific.
In order to achieve this, Netflix built Titus.
The How
Titus is a container-management software.
- The packing of small-sized container images on a VM and reducing the footprint of the infrastructure.
- You can easily schedule service tasks to develop tasks using the resources available.
4) Pinterest
The What
Pinterest has also embraced containers. The platform has evolved to containerization to help manage the growing workload of users. The team also wanted to decrease the expense of managing all of the images that are shared on the platform. To do this, they decided to use a technology which allowed them to remain savvy about investments.
The team wanted to
- Add advanced features and services to Pinterest anytime, without the need to have granular control.
- Improve performance, enhance the reliability of functional services and enhance the user experience through Docker.
The How
Following is a containerized process that have helped Pinterest to save money over the top in the long run.
- All dependencies specific to services were added into what they refer to as containers for service. This means that just one AMI is transferred to the various development platforms.
- A tool was developed known as Telefig which is utilized to start and stop containers at the click of a button. This helps in coordinating the dependencies that affect containers.
- Implemented container orchestration methods to construct a multi-tenant system that unifies batches of tasks.
How can iTechnolabs assist to develop containerization technology?
Containerization technology has revolutionized the world of software development and deployment, offering a powerful and efficient way to package, distribute, and run applications. In this article, we will explore containerization technology, its various types, advantages, applications, and how iTechnolabs plays a pivotal role in helping businesses harness the full potential of containerization.
Understanding Containerization Technology
Containerization is a lightweight form of virtualization that allows applications and their dependencies to be bundled together into a single unit called a container. These containers encapsulate everything an application needs to run consistently across different environments, including the code, runtime, libraries, and system tools. Containerization technology has gained immense popularity due to its versatility, scalability, and efficiency.
Types of Containers
- Docker Containers: Docker is the most well-known and widely used containerization platform. It provides a user-friendly interface for creating, managing, and distributing containers. iTechnolabs excels in Docker containerization solutions, helping organizations streamline their development and deployment processes.
- Kubernetes Containers: Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. iTechnolabs offers Kubernetes consulting services to help businesses implement and optimize Kubernetes clusters for their specific needs.
Advantages of Containerization
Containerization technology offers a plethora of advantages that make it a game-changer in modern software development and deployment:
- Portability: Containers are highly portable, allowing developers to build applications once and run them anywhere, be it on a developer’s laptop, a test environment, or a production server.
- Isolation: Containers provide application-level isolation, ensuring that each application and its dependencies run independently without interfering with other containers on the same host.
- Resource Efficiency: Containers share the host operating system’s kernel, making them lightweight and efficient in terms of resource utilization.
- Rapid Deployment: Containers can be spun up or down in seconds, facilitating rapid application deployment and scaling to meet fluctuating workloads.
- Version Control: Container images can be versioned, making it easy to roll back to previous versions in case of issues.
- DevOps Integration: Containerization seamlessly integrates with DevOps practices, enabling continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.
Applications of Containerization
Containerization technology finds applications across various industries and use cases:
- Microservices Architecture: Many organizations adopt microservices architecture using containers to build and deploy applications as a collection of loosely coupled services.
- Cloud-Native Development: Containers are the foundation of cloud-native development, allowing applications to be easily migrated to cloud environments like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
- Testing and QA: Containers simplify testing by providing consistent test environments, reducing the “it works on my machine” problem.
- Legacy Application Modernization: Containerization can breathe new life into legacy applications by enabling them to run in modern, containerized environments.
- Edge Computing: Containers are ideal for edge computing scenarios, where lightweight and portable applications are required on edge devices.
How iTechnolabs Supports Containerization
iTechnolabs is a leading technology consulting and solutions provider that specializes in containerization technology. Here’s how iTechnolabs helps businesses leverage containerization:
- Containerization Strategy: iTechnoLabs collaborates with organizations to develop containerization strategies tailored to their unique needs and objectives.
- Docker Expertise: The team at iTechnolabs boasts deep expertise in Docker containerization, assisting clients in containerizing their applications and ensuring they are optimized for performance and security.
- Kubernetes Consulting: iTechnolabs offers Kubernetes consulting services, helping clients implement, manage, and scale Kubernetes clusters for container orchestration.
- CI/CD Pipeline Integration: iTechnolabs assists in integrating containerization into clients’ CI/CD pipelines, enabling seamless automation of application builds and deployments.
- Security and Compliance: iTechnolabs prioritizes security and compliance, ensuring that containerized applications meet industry standards and best practices.
- Monitoring and Optimization: iTechnolabs provides monitoring and optimization services to ensure that containerized applications perform at their best.
There are exceptions however the virtual containers and machines are two of the most basic tools to assist you in moving your application to a cloud environment. In many cases, you will be able to “lift and shift” the application to the VM as the most straightforward solution. But, it’s not always the most effective solution. Containerized environments are quite fluid and can alter much more quickly than environments created by virtual machines, which provides valuable flexibility.
Containerization, on the other hand, can benefit DevOps teams by enabling them to concentrate on the most important objectives. Microservices, in turn, can make use of containerization to create small, single-function components that can be used in conjunction to produce more agile and scalable applications. With all the benefits of containerization and the benefits it brings, it’s the best choice to make use of this technology to be one of the future Spotify, Pinterest, in short, the top at what you do. Let Simform become your IT partner to help you design the ideal container strategy by using the appropriate devices and structures!
Containerization technology has revolutionized the way applications are developed, deployed, and managed. With the help of iTechnolabs, businesses can harness the full potential of containerization, enjoying benefits such as portability, isolation, resource efficiency, rapid deployment, version control, and seamless integration with DevOps practices. Whether it’s Docker containerization, Kubernetes consulting, or creating a containerization strategy, iTechnolabs is a trusted partner in navigating the containerization landscape and staying ahead in the ever-evolving world of technology.
